Film Review: The Nice Guys

"You're The World's Worst Detective..."

Before venturing into the world of Marvel with Iron Man 3, Shane Black was perhaps best known for writing and directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the neo-noir black comedy starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer, a film in which inevitably draws parallels to Black's latest, The Nice Guys, a film of unquestionable similarity in both tone and set-up, albeit starring the one-two of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling and set slap bang in the late 1970's instead. After the sudden death of adult film star Misty Mountains, private detective Holland March (Gosling) is hired by the deceased's aunt to discover whether or not she is actually alive after seeing her days after her supposed death. Coincidentally, March is quickly intimidated by enforcer Jackson Healy (Crowe) who has been hired to prevent his search for Amelia, a suspect in the murder of Misty Mountains, and is told to leave her alone and end his quest for answers. After a quick-fire turn of events however, Healy convinces March to join forces in order to discover the seedy doings of the Los Angeles porn industry and discover the reasons behind the growing number of deaths that seem to be happening around them. 

Part Chinatown, part Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys gives everything you expect from a picture helmed by the dark comedic mind of Shane Black, with laughs galore throughout the film's more than satisfactory runtime and a pitch black violent streak so reluctantly hilarious, you'll walk out the cinema wondering whether you should have laughed or not. The answer? Of course you should, with the one-two success pairing of Crowe and Gosling being the best on-screen duo in recent memory if being, at times, bettered by the remarkable talents of young Angourie Rice as Holland's daughter, Holly, who is presented as the real brains of the family and the one with the real talent when it comes to investigative pastimes. A long way away from the likes of his time with Marvel, Shane Black's The Nice Guys is a riveting success, one that will leave you with a embarrassingly wide grin for days, the hallmark of an effective comedy if ever there was one. 

Overall Score: 8/10